His declaration that he was doing so to pursue the cause of a separate Telangana State was received with all round sniggers and murmurs about him going behind a lost cause, both by his detractors and sympathisers. All that however turned to anxiety and cautious admiration, when on Apr.27, 2003 his then newly launched party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), organized a rally in Warangal. Much to the amazement and disbelief of almost every politician, media and common man in Andhra Pradesh, it drew a massive response, with almost six to eight lakh people converging in support of the cause being espoused.

Overnight, KCR�s gamble seemed to have worked, and he was started being seen as a major threat by both the major political parties, Congress and Telugu Desam. However both refused to admit it openly and continued to reject KCR as anything else then a passing nuisance. Such arrogance on the part of the major political parties, and even a large majority of the intelligentsia, including the media in the State, failed to catch the growing sentiment in favour of a separate State.

However by the time the elections to the Lok Sabha as well as the State legislative Assembly came around in April-May 2004, Congress had also come around to the view that it cannot ignore the sentiments for too long. The BJP which was leading the NDA Government with TDP as one of its leading allies had however made a u-turn from its 1996 and 1998 manifesto promise of supporting the formation of a separate State. �One vote, two States�, was its slogan. Obviously the TDP�s strong anti-Telangana stand played a major role in BJP forgetting its promise. It had no intention to jeopardize its Government at the Centre too.

KCR and TRS however continued to draw considerable response, and many leaders and cadre from both Congress and TDP, sensing the mood had shifted to the new party. By the time it came to choosing partners for the May 2004 Lok Sabha as well as Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Congress had recognized the fact that it cannot ignore the TRS, and went ahead and formed an alliance.

It proved a masterstroke, as Congress and TRS together virtually swept both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, with TRS winning 5 and 26 seats respectively. For KCR, who till a year ago was considered a flop non-entity, it was straight elevation to the Union Cabinet and his party also joined the State Government under Y.S.Rajashekara Reddy.

Later as events proved, it was a big mis-calculation on the part of KCR, as Congress proved to be only interested in postponing a decision on the separate statehood. The delay in getting his demand fulfilled saw KCR pulling his party out of the UPA coalition in 2006. Even then the observers as well as political parties took it lightly, and dismissed it as a stunt which will have no repercussions. After lying low for some more time, KCR decided to take the bull by its horns and test the ground. He asked all his MPs and MLAs to resign and forced by-elections in 16 Assembly and 4 Lok Sabha seats, in May 2008, a year ahead of the scheduled general elections.

The results came as a great relief to the rivals of TRS, as it managed to retain only 7 out of the 16 seats in Assembly and 2 out of 4 in the Lok Sabha. It also reinforced their feeling, obviously misplaced as recent events have shown, that TRS and the demand for a separate statehood was a dwindling proposition. Then Chief Minister Y.S.Rajashekara Reddy meanwhile was hailed as a hero for having �managed� and �suppressed� the movement, and restored the unified Andhra sentiment.

Meanwhile, the Telugu Desam which had ever since its formation in 1982, opposed the demand for a separate Telangana made a dramatic somersault on Oct.9,2008, and pledged support for it. Obviously the forthcoming general elections in May 2009, and TDP�s dwindling fortunes and the need for a common platform of opposition parties to take on the powerful YSR had something to do with it.

KCR who had broken away from TDP on the issue, now found no reason to keep the distance and joined a �grand alliance� of opposition parties, comprising, TDP, TRS and left parties to take on the Congress in May 2009 general elections. But the results came as a major setback to KCR and his party, which ended up with only 2 seats in the Lok Sabha and 10 in the Assembly. KCR became a target of ire of his own supporters and was even forced to offer his resignation as President of the party in June, which he later withdrew.

The Congress having won a massive victory under YSR both in the Lok Sabha and Assembly, smugly thought that it was the end of the Telangana demand. And having successfully put the issue in a cold storage by forming a Committee under Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee in 2005, thought it could continue to ignore it.

Pushed to the wall, KCR who was defeated and down in the dumps, suspected by his own supporters of having betrayed the cause, took a plunge earlier this month and announced a fast-unto-death. Suddenly all the suppressed feelings of betrayal over the decades, erupted into the open, and took everyone, not least of all the Congress leadership, by surprise. Caught napping virtually, the Congress leadership at the Centre watched in horror as Osmania University students took the lead, surprising even the TRS chief.

The sense of hurt and betrayal of the people of Telangana goes back to 1955, when the States Re-organisation Commission recommended a separate Hyderabad state comprising of the 10 districts of Telangana region which was under the Nizam. However then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru overlooked the recommendation and succumbed to the pressure of those propounding a Vishal Andhra, comprising of the erstwhile Madras Presidency region and Hyderabad State.

This was followed by Indira Gandhi ignoring the claims of Telangana during the violent agitation between 1969 and 1971, and suppressing it brutally. As a senior Andhra leader at the Centre reflects, one chance Indira Gandhi had to form a separate State and put an end to the problem, was lost in 1973. That was the time when in reaction to the separate Telangana agitation, a counter agitation was launched in coastal Andhra to have their own State. �That was the time both regions had decided that they want to be separate. But Indira Gandhi under the influence of one of her trusted advisors then, K.C.Pant decided to suppress the demands�, the leader recalls.

The promises made then to take care of interests of Telangana region, which had been poorly developed, has remained a mirage even to this day. Successive Governments have been responsible for this backwardness, which was only exploited by KCR. The pro-Telangana camp, legitimately feels that the region can only improve when it becomes a separate State. After all, the ten districts of the region, is spread across 40 percent of the total area of Andhra Pradesh. With 16 Lok Sabha seats and 112 Assembly seats, and stretching over 1.16 lakh sq.kms, it is larger than 15 of the States in India. It is also rich in natural resources and the catchment areas of two major rivers, Krishna and Godavari is situated here.

The grievance of the Telanganites, justified too, has always been that the people from other regions, coastal Andhra especially have benefited more from these natural resources than them. Hyderabad, the central issue in the entire controversy, which is in the heart of Telangana, they feel has been taken over by the �settlers� from other regions. It is a fact that major businesses and industry as real estate has been cornered by the people from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, be it Satyam�s Ramalinga Raju, Eenadu group�s Ramoji Rao, or even the late Chief Minister YSR and TDP Chief N.Chandrababu Naidu, who hails from Rayalaseema.

In the last 30 years, there have been ten Chief Ministers, and only two were from Telangana, and even those two, T.Anjaiah( from Medak) and M.Chenna Reddy(Hyderabad) were not allowed to complete a full term. If this was not enough, the huge vested interests developed by the �settlers� from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema in Hyderabad and their fear that the formation of a separate Telangana State, with Hyderabad as its capital, would mean that they would lose their hold on their economic wealth, has been a powerful reason for Telangana not becoming a reality so far.

It is this battle for Hyderabad which has resulted in all political parties, especially the Congress and TDP, putting off a decision on the formation of a separate State. The proposal to make Hyderabad into another Chandigarh with both States having capital there, does not wash, as unlike Chandigarh, Hyderabad�s geographical location is unsuitable for it. Two districts, Nalgonda and Khammam, have to be crossed to reach coastal Andhra and Mahbubnagar to reach Rayalaseema.

What Congress leadership at the Centre has done by announcing the �process� of formation of a new State so hastily on Dec.9, is to open a Pandora�s Box. Apart from making a �zero� KCR into a �Hero� again. Obviously the leadership failed to understand the sentiments of the rest of Andhra, simply because it had arrogated to itself all wisdom over the matter. It failed to assess the mood, as it failed to hold wide ranging consultations, leave alone outside the party but even within.

The result is that it has now landed itself with not just an inflamed Andhra Pradesh, but with flames catching up all over the country with demands for separate statehood. And the Congress leadership seems to have no clue how to douse these flames.